August 2013 (pdf) - 104th Fighter Wing, Massachusetts Air National ...

AUGUST 2013
AIRSCOOP
PAGE 3 3
Last year,
Col. Keefe
requested an Air
Force Equal
Opportunity
Climate
Assessment
survey to be
completed. All 104 th personnel were
asked to provide honest feedback to help
the Wing commander make important
decisions and to better understand what
was going on throughout the Wing. The
report was briefed to the Wing leadership
on 2 May 2013, there were two common
themes that need attention, and they are:
more / better mentoring and
recognition. I will focus on mentoring
for this article.
Mentoring is a critical component in
the Air National Guard’s force
development. Mentoring is a relationship
in which a person with greater
experience and wisdom guides another
person to develop both personally and
professionally. Mentoring is primarily to
prepare Airmen to accept increased
responsibilities. Mentoring covers a wide
range of areas such as career guidance,
technical development, leadership,
Chief Master Sergeant’s Column
By Chief Master Sgt. Todd Fappiano, 104th FW Command Chief
history, and strategic thinking. We as
leaders have several tools to accomplish
this.
1. Enlisted Performance Reports
(EPR). As you may have heard, these
reports are now mandatory for all Drill
Status Air National Guardsmen. The
program will start for Senior Airman and
Staff Sgt.’s for the year 2013–2014. These
will be accomplished every two years.
Your unit supervisor should be sitting
down with you to discuss your role in this
new process.
2. Feedback forms. This is a less
formal tool for your supervisor to sit with
their Airman and give them the feedback
they need to be successful. Our 1st Sgt.’s
keep track of this program and “gently
nudge” your Commanders to ensure this
is happening.
3. Career Motivational Program.
This tool is initiated by our Base
Retention Office. This program is
designed to be given after Airmen have
returned from Technical School and one
year prior to an Airman’s estimated time
of separation (ETS). It is designed to give
the Commander insight to what their
Airman’s future goals are and to help
them retain them towards their ETS.
AF upgrades official website
By Airman 1st Class Zachary Vucic, Air Force News Service
Another good resource to use while
mentoring enlisted Airmen is "My
Enlisted Development Plan
(MyEDP).” This plan provides a modern,
web-based approach for enlisted Airmen
to manage their career development.
Available via the Air Force Portal,
MyEDP is a one-stop-shopping electronic
toolkit enabling Airmen to designate
their mentor or mentee, collaborate with
peers, and track their professional career
progression. Senior Master Sergeant
Douglas Daponde, 104 th Human Resource
Advisor, is working to roll this out to
Supervisors in the near future.
Mentoring is critical to the success of our
Airman’s future and the mission of the
104 th Fighter Wing. Our young Airmen
deserve to be mentored, they deserve
your time and we as leaders must make
time for them. The Wing leadership is
committed to ensuring each member has
the opportunity to grown from mentoring
– but it’s not a one-way program. If you
are reading this, and feel you don’t have
a mentor, come see me, and you will then
have a mentor.
The official website of the U.S.
Air Force is taking a step forward in
the information age Aug. 2 with a new
look and greater functionality for
today's Internet user.
The latest version of Air Force
Link boasts features that make it
more accessible including mobile
device and computer software
compatibility, more interaction
opportunities through social media
and easier navigation.
"The redesigned sites will not
only look better to the general public,
they'll also be more powerful for
website managers across the Air Force
thanks to increased functionality on
the back end of the new system," said
Brig. Gen. Les A. Kodlick, Secretary of
the Air Force Office of Public Affairs
director, the Pentagon, Washington,
D.C. "This is a huge undertaking for
the Air Force Public Web team at the
Air Force Public Affairs Agency that
has been in the works for more than a
year."
Not everyone can see, hear or
understand website elements, said
Charlotte Hu, AFPAA's Air Force
Public Web chief, Joint Base San
Antonio-Lackland, Texas. It's
important that wounded warriors and
others with disabilities can consume
the websites. The new www.af.mil will
be compatible with the types of
software hearing-impaired, seeingimpaired
and non-English speaking
users have available, such as text-tospeech.
"It's all about accessibility ... with
the new technology, we want to take
advantage of the opportunities that
are available," Hu said. In addition,,
social
media will be an integral part of
the new-look website.
"The technology of the previous
era is one-to-many," Hu said. "The
website speaks and you listen. In the
modern era people should be able to
comment ... they should be able to
share that content on their own social
media platforms."
The new website has a specific
emphasis on functionality and keeping
up with the constant movement of
technology, Hu said. The changes
reflected on AFLink will slowly and
seamlessly transition to all Air Force
pages during the course of the two to
three years.